The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Phlox plant, known as Phlox ‘Fashionably Early Crystal’ and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Fashionably Early Crystal’, or the “new plant”. The new plant was the result of a single seedling selection from the cross of Phlox maculata ‘Alpha’ (not patented) times Phlox ‘Amethyst Pearl’ U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 15/330,047 performed at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich. on Jun. 13, 2012. The new plant was originally given the breeder code 12-11-04. ‘Fashionably Early Crystal’ has been asexually propagated by stem cuttings in the greenhouses at the same nursery in Zeeland, Mich. The unique characteristics of the new plant have been found to be reproducible and stable in successive generations of asexually propagated plants and the resultant plants have been found to be identical to the original selection.
No plants of Phlox ‘Fashionably Early Crystal’ have been sold, in this country or anywhere in the world, prior to the filing of this application, nor has any disclosure of the new plant been made prior to the filing of this application with the exception of that which may have been disclosed within one year of the filing date of this application and was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.